martinmauger

Joe Owen, early in his career had the nickname 'Tazmanian Devil' the way he twisted all over his bike with plenty of elbows out. His style calmed down quite a bit & he became a well capable rider in 1978 raising his match ave. to above 9pts before his first terrible action at Hull riding in a meaningless 2nd half race....

Indeed, All The Very Best To All In Speedway For 2025. And (don't wanna preach to ya people, no, no, no) but if at all possible: attend your local track, and also others, or subscribe to the BSN or club feed, buy a programme & maybe club merch & also buy the Speedway Star. Discuss, criticise & complain, and also praise, (as we all love to do) by all means but try to support speedway in general. 'East Yorkshire based nutshell': when Hull closed at the Boulevard end of 1981 there were 2 divisions each of 18 teams (36 in total) with prob a few 'inactive but possible to re-open' tracks. End of 2024 we have a total of 16 +/- in the entire country, allbeit with a few 'inactive but possible to re-open', Bradford, Buxton, Coventry (hopefully) & Mildenhall immediately spring to mind. Don't think I need to draw pictures, but try to Support Speedway in 2025....

Similar situation in Hull; plenty of land inside and just outside city boundries, but literally ACRES of it just a couple of miles to the the North and to the West, but it's all owned by someone, just sitting on and it biding their time....

Can reccomend this, when I was way younger my Dad took me fishing to Filey, North Yorkshire, this woulda bin late 1970's / early 1980's ?, & I was delighted to discover sand racing was taking place - who knew ? I had just got into speedway a few previous years ago & recall there were different classes: grass / sand track bikes, Moto-X, sidecars, diff engine capacities, etc. Recall one guy seemed to be in almost every race, we watched him & he just re-fuelled & went straight again. Speaking to him afterwards he told us he rode a 250 so could compete in many more classes (250, 350, 500, unlimited, etc) so more skids for his buck. One last thing: we know how a speedway track changes so rides different as a meet progresses (dries out, dirt moves, etc) well the Filey track actually changed shape as the tide came in, from a big 'Belle Vue shape', towards to the end was a long 'sausage-shaped track', imagine, say, IOW's straights with Lakeside's bends. But, yeh, a good day out, reccomended. FOC too....

(Tis the weekend so I'm in a funny mood) My favourite shovel is the Spear & Jackson no.3, there have been reports of handles breaking off but I still believe it to be a fine shovel. ... Courtesy Ripping Yarns Series 1 Ep2: The Testing Of Eric Olthwaite 😀 https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=Awr.nrDQ2kFnAwIA2t5LBQx.;_ylu=Y29sbwNpcjIEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Nj/RV=2/RE=1733578705/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fwatch%3fv%3dHlWbcQ0iQiQ/RK=2/RS=YSEvzjteue_6uWW0w.xol098d6w-

Good stuff for Matej, happy to stand corrected, as we need our info to be right. Right ?...

Jumping in quick re: Zagar, think I read in the 'Star a few weeks that Zagar is either 'no longer an active rider' or 'is semi-retired', not been able to find the article again but think that's pretty much what was said, so he's poss out of the picture anyhoo....

Yeah very smart bike, good that it gets ridden too....

Good stuff....

Thanks for that Deano, makes sense now, 'mystery' solved, as with many things in speedway: all just to do 4 laps in (still) 60 secs or so.....

Are the Monarchs & Academy teams both defo good to go for 2025 & beyond ? Not being 'a negative ninny' but seem to recall there was some doubt over the future availability of Armadale & the Edinburgh management were reported to be looking for a new site elsewhere & a new ideal location fell through at the 11th hour recently, speedway can ill afford to lose anymore clubs....

Also I've noticed what appears to be a new design of wheel rim & hub used by Martin Vaculik & a few others: the spokes hook in 'lugs' mounted on the rim and the adjustment of spokes for tension & trueness of the wheel is at the hub, as opposed to being the other way around as has always been the case. Literally don't understand this; same design but different method of assembly there doesn't seem to be any less spokes, tho the spokes themselves do look a little thicker, so can't see any benefit i.e. lightness or strength....

Sad news, the sport has lost another old-school promoter & more importantly a true showman. In the mid-1980's, when the Boulevard had closed & before Craven Park opened for speedway, in between coach trips the Hull Speedway Supporters Club held regular get-togethers & often invited guest speakers; promoters, riders, team managers, etc. Len Silver was one such guest and very entertaining & interesting he was too. All were offered travel expenses most didn't accept anything, Len flatly refused to take a penny saying "save your money, put it towards a bus trip to a speedway meeting". He likely had business in the area anyway, I don't know, but it struck me that there was a guy from all the way from down south come to chat with us northerners brought together by the sport of speedway. RIP Len....

He's a good egg is Dave Fairbrother, a man of few words who gets things done - he's great, as posted you do get a bit embarrassed making one too many Friday phone calls "er I'm afraid my Speedway Star hasn't arrived...". Thing is the internet connection / wi-fi is so hit & miss in these parts due to the partial upgrading of the network to fibre optic, much prefer paper hard copy anyhoo....

Always watch this prog couldn't believe my eyes, they bought a 'grasser' rolling chassis once, also sold to Hagon Shocks, their bikes / cars almost always start easily after 'just new fuel & maybe a spark plug', the ep is repeated on Quest this Saturday at 9pm, speedway bike part could be 9.30....

This ^^, except other our mail arrives as normal, think the problem is the wrapping. Missing issues never turn up if not delivered by Friday, phone call to the office (before 2pm) results in a copy arriving, in brown envelope, 1st post the very next day. Late again BTW....

Egon Muller won the 1983 World Final in Norden, Germany riding an early GM that was originally loaned to Dave Jessup. Doubt the engine was over-sized but Egon himself admitted he'd been given all the help he needed; unlimited practice on the then newly revamped tack, also 'road testing' of his bike on public roads (!) often chased by the cops. He made everyone look silly that day winning with a full 15pts, only Hans Nielsen gated on him but Egon came through to win when Hans suffered an EF or maybe threw a chain. Seen a video of Egon's arrival at the meeting, just him, son Dirk, the one bike & minimal of kit just kit bag & the one tool box. Apparently he helpfully advised on the re-shaping "like a smaller longtrack", preparation before & during the meeting & there are certainly photos of him indulging 'serious gardening' literally crouched down examining the surface, trowel in hand. These days by comparison, riders just get on with it. Regarding cheating the only story I have personal experience of is a guy I bought some speedway merch from telling me he was working with a 'top division heat leader' [name obv redacted] on a traction control system built into the ignition & clutch. It would produce a slight, undetecable misfiring so as to prevent tyre slip & the rider concerned would then go on to 'wipe the floor with everyone' Don't think anything came of it as the rider concerned it still riding today but his form is pretty the same, much no better & no worse & he doesn't ride in the GPs. Such a system would be illiegal & therefore cheating as, I forget the actual ording, but a speedway bike requires a manual clutch, with no automatic limited slip mechanism other than the rider 'feathering' or slipping the clutch by pulling in the lever slightly, which can only be fully disengaged by pulling in the lever on the handle bars....

The above is known to be true. Without checking think Kroeze score his '21' in 1976 so a decade later, defo made a bit speedway news at the time.....

I concur. A coupla years back spoke with a relative newbie at Scunny v Berwick "so Bandits track this guy Chris 'Bomber' Harris, he's great you you'll enjoy watching him, he's brilliant he oft misses the gate but can pass from anywhere almost for fun" 👍. And Bomber decided to wear his gating gloves that nite, slight egg on face☺️, but a brilliant rider all the same, and the newbie, + son & his friends, is still pretty much a regular....

The story unfolded when I spoke to the rider in question, on the receiving end of the 'Superman-dive', after the meeting remarked he looked like he'd been beaten up (literally), he recounted the story, confirmed later by others. No wonder the DJ played 'I Predict A Riot' by Kaiser Chiefs. Both riders now obv retired tho the ex-non Superman rider is still involved on the other side of the fence....

Tame, all of 'em 😏. At Hull Craven Park, an away rider accidentally skittled off 2 Hull riders in separate races, pretty sure both were accidental, the Vikings were handing out the then usual pasting and the opposition were getting a bit desperate. Well one home rider had seen enough and when the unsuspecting away rider returned to the pits the Viking dived Superman-style off the grass bank near the pits, skittled the unsuspecting rider clean off his bike and a full-on brawl ensued. Both names obv redacted. Didn't witness the incedent personally but the story was recounted almost word for word to me by several, it has to be said amazed, onlookers, including team managers, promoters, team-mates & the poor rider himself on the recieving end of 'Hull's own Superman'🙂....

Get In ! Now THAT'S Rock And Roll ! No one can say they didn't deserve it, no one stopped or fell in their races they had to really race hard & Aussies certainly don't ever just lie down, esp when it's v Us Pomms. When Woffy crashed in the GP I thought "Oh, no here we freakin' go again !", but Robert & Dan did it. Good on them. Believe me, people it means waay more when it's your team and / or your country. Loved it, I'm smiling (for once some might say !) ....

Well done to all that we had a meeting to watch, all the very best to young Thompson. Struck me that the Hellstrom-Bangs exclusion was very simlar to Madsen / Holder incedent at recent GP, as in defo slight contact tho both fallers could possibly (probably ?) have saved it, except in the GP the rider who came off, Holder, was excluded....

Well, duh: did TM's ex riding / non-riding not say to their riders "nice to win 'semi' but main thing is to make the final: so no lasts, if 2nd & 3rd just defend your position" ?, obv not in some cases. Czechs blew it, Aussies almost did. Still, we all go after it again Fri & Sat nites: GO BRITS !...

Thought the issue Skywalker Luke (not taking the mick, honest) had in the race with Lambert & the 2 Edinbugh riders (can't remember exactly or be bothered to check) was that Lambert left him a tad exposed so the 2 Monarchs effectivley 'beat him up'. It happens; 'you give me shove today, I'll give you a shove tomorow, long as we all survive to ride another day, then we go after it again'. IMO he'll learn more from such awkward on-track incedents, & going to Poland with GB U19 squad where gotta say he did blooming well, than beating NL-level riders with relative ease, well some of them. Said before, but Luke ain't half bad at speedway, at all, often need to check the number on his back to be sure it isn't the more experienced Ablitt one is watching. But young Luke has got 'it', that is the ability to race, not only ride, speedway very well, you only need to watch him for a lap, how much of 'it' he has, time will tell & it will be interesting to follow his progress, but he has defo got 'it'. Good luck to him I say....